Socialization and Mask Project
What we studied this semester that stood out the most to me was the cycle of socialization and how socialization affects identity. We started researching through articles and one particular graphic novel called American Born Chinese. American Born Chinese is about a Chinese boy who was born in America and him working to overcome how he is viewed as a stereotypical Chinese person in American society. Then, we dove into researching more about the cycle of socialization by reading "Boy World" from the parenting guide, Queenbees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. After our research, we were tasked with the Mask Project. We created a mask of our identity and who we represent ourselves as, as well as wrote an essay to correlate with the mask. You can see my work below.
As I reflect back on this project, I remember how hard it was to talk about myself. I can honestly say this was hard because I have not thought much about my identity. I had to start with talking to my family about stories from when I was younger in order to understand more about who I am and the things that influenced me at a young age. As I continued to write, I thought more about how my struggles with school had the biggest impact on my identity. Going to a small school that catered to my learning needs really influenced my sense of self. I am glad that I had the opportunity to do this project because it helped me see who I am and what I stand for. I think this will help me through my years in high school.
Second Semester Projects
20% Project
Reflection and Letter to Future me
Dear Mitchell
Hello, me. This is you from your past freshman year talking to you through the lowest form of time travel, letters, to talk about my 20% project and our senior project.
My intended goal for my 20% project was to create a group that would disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other by talking, playing games, and hanging out, with a different theme of what we would do each week.
I achieved this goal partially with getting our small group of friends to come every Monday, and I did work with Erin Skyles, our school counselor. We did unplug from technology and connect with each other. However, since we are all friends, we usually aren’t plugged in so it didn’t feel that different. The biggest pitfall was not being able to get more people to join from outside our friend group.
The strength I discovered about myself is that I can stay focus on a goal and strive to achieve it even if it's not turning out the way I wanted to. For instance, I stayed with the group rather than dropping it for another project.
Areas of growth could be communicating with others to get more people in the group, by changing and adapting my communication strategy. Additionally, I need to strive to do more to figure out a better way next time to get more people included and get more information from the people I’m trying to have in the group to make sure it’s based on their needs and interests, rather just telling them the data and creating the structure I think works best.
What I learned from the 20% project, is that getting people to gain interest in a topic that is hard to discuss such as loneliness is hard and might not be exactly what we wanted. I learned that starting a project like this is hard and takes time to complete, even if it doesn't get finished or accomplished in the perfectionistic way that we do everything, that the outcome can be just as rewarding as if it were how we originally imagined. What I am taking away from what I learned here and now from my 20% project is that even if it doesn't fit our exact description of what we wanted, it still can work out and be a great project.
My biggest piece of advice for you before you start your senior project is to do something you really enjoy and that you can have fun with rather than it being a chore for you. You shouldn’t do something just for the grade, rather something fun for you and others so they’re interested in your topic.
Cordially Signed - You
Hello, me. This is you from your past freshman year talking to you through the lowest form of time travel, letters, to talk about my 20% project and our senior project.
My intended goal for my 20% project was to create a group that would disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other by talking, playing games, and hanging out, with a different theme of what we would do each week.
I achieved this goal partially with getting our small group of friends to come every Monday, and I did work with Erin Skyles, our school counselor. We did unplug from technology and connect with each other. However, since we are all friends, we usually aren’t plugged in so it didn’t feel that different. The biggest pitfall was not being able to get more people to join from outside our friend group.
The strength I discovered about myself is that I can stay focus on a goal and strive to achieve it even if it's not turning out the way I wanted to. For instance, I stayed with the group rather than dropping it for another project.
Areas of growth could be communicating with others to get more people in the group, by changing and adapting my communication strategy. Additionally, I need to strive to do more to figure out a better way next time to get more people included and get more information from the people I’m trying to have in the group to make sure it’s based on their needs and interests, rather just telling them the data and creating the structure I think works best.
What I learned from the 20% project, is that getting people to gain interest in a topic that is hard to discuss such as loneliness is hard and might not be exactly what we wanted. I learned that starting a project like this is hard and takes time to complete, even if it doesn't get finished or accomplished in the perfectionistic way that we do everything, that the outcome can be just as rewarding as if it were how we originally imagined. What I am taking away from what I learned here and now from my 20% project is that even if it doesn't fit our exact description of what we wanted, it still can work out and be a great project.
My biggest piece of advice for you before you start your senior project is to do something you really enjoy and that you can have fun with rather than it being a chore for you. You shouldn’t do something just for the grade, rather something fun for you and others so they’re interested in your topic.
Cordially Signed - You
Sankofa Story
The essential question for this project was: “In what ways can the past guide us in creating a strong and just future?”
Sankofa is a word in the Akan Twi and Fante languages of Ghana, that can be translated to mean, "go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful." The Akan believe the past serves as a guide for planning the future. Connecting the past with the present allows us to better understand the forces that will have an impact on our collective future as citizens of this planet. Leading up to this project, we studied the debate around the recently created Bears Ears National Monument. In order to develop our own opinions on what the most just solution to the Bears Ears debate is, we studied relevant history that has influenced various contemporary constituents’ perspectives on the matter. We then read a dystopian novel entitled The Marrow Thieves about a world in which climate change has ravaged the land and non-Indigenous people end up stealing the marrow of Indigenous people to retain the ability to dream. After this example, we got to choose any topic we wanted to write our own fictional short stories that somehow addressed our project’s essential question.
Sankofa is a word in the Akan Twi and Fante languages of Ghana, that can be translated to mean, "go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful." The Akan believe the past serves as a guide for planning the future. Connecting the past with the present allows us to better understand the forces that will have an impact on our collective future as citizens of this planet. Leading up to this project, we studied the debate around the recently created Bears Ears National Monument. In order to develop our own opinions on what the most just solution to the Bears Ears debate is, we studied relevant history that has influenced various contemporary constituents’ perspectives on the matter. We then read a dystopian novel entitled The Marrow Thieves about a world in which climate change has ravaged the land and non-Indigenous people end up stealing the marrow of Indigenous people to retain the ability to dream. After this example, we got to choose any topic we wanted to write our own fictional short stories that somehow addressed our project’s essential question.
Reflection
My paper addresses the essential question, “in what ways can the past guide us in creating a strong and just future” by discussing the importance of pursuing peace by finding common ground and appreciating others cultures and ideals. In my story, the world has been thrown into chaos and destruction because of the conflict of war and the resulting aftermath. In my story, much of civilization and the earth itself was destroyed by one leader’s greed and lust for power. The protagonists in my story fight to protect what is left of the world by encouraging their own leaders to not war upon one another and rather settle upon peace. My protagonists do so by sharing stories of the mistakes made in history.
“When the negotiations ended, Evelyaned and I looked at both leaders as they sat there and simply stared at each other for a long while. Both leaders were left without words but you could see they had developed a strong sense of connection over finding common ground. They then clasped hands and shook. They had agreed that bloodshed would not be the answer for leading their people into a greater future. The leaders left to inform their people of the truce.”
I made two major revisions to my story. When I first drafted my story, Kevin was not going to be important to the Greek people until the end when he stumbled upon the artifact (newspaper clipping) that eventually led to the peace talks between leaders. Essentially, he was going to be the town idiot and would appear at the end of the story as the hero. When I started developing Evelyaned as a character, his role no longer fit. So I had to re-develop him as a main character for the Greek people to match her importance to the Viking people. I also revised the ending a couple of times. I had a hard time concluding my story. I wanted the ending to tell the “moral of the story” but also be exciting enough for the reader to be satisfied. At first I made the ending too complicated by having the two leaders discuss and argue for paragraphs. I then went back and made it more concise and clearly stated that the leaders found common ground without a lot of extra information the reader didn’t need.
My favorite part of the story is my last quote that ties to my story’s title. Albert Einstein once said “World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones.” When I was given this assignment, I immediately thought of this quote. It gave me the inspiration for my story. Eventually, if we keep fighting with one another, there will be nothing left to fight with.
“When the negotiations ended, Evelyaned and I looked at both leaders as they sat there and simply stared at each other for a long while. Both leaders were left without words but you could see they had developed a strong sense of connection over finding common ground. They then clasped hands and shook. They had agreed that bloodshed would not be the answer for leading their people into a greater future. The leaders left to inform their people of the truce.”
I made two major revisions to my story. When I first drafted my story, Kevin was not going to be important to the Greek people until the end when he stumbled upon the artifact (newspaper clipping) that eventually led to the peace talks between leaders. Essentially, he was going to be the town idiot and would appear at the end of the story as the hero. When I started developing Evelyaned as a character, his role no longer fit. So I had to re-develop him as a main character for the Greek people to match her importance to the Viking people. I also revised the ending a couple of times. I had a hard time concluding my story. I wanted the ending to tell the “moral of the story” but also be exciting enough for the reader to be satisfied. At first I made the ending too complicated by having the two leaders discuss and argue for paragraphs. I then went back and made it more concise and clearly stated that the leaders found common ground without a lot of extra information the reader didn’t need.
My favorite part of the story is my last quote that ties to my story’s title. Albert Einstein once said “World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones.” When I was given this assignment, I immediately thought of this quote. It gave me the inspiration for my story. Eventually, if we keep fighting with one another, there will be nothing left to fight with.